alastairjamieson

<p>Do some research to figure out who needs landscape (or similar 'non-people') images of the locations you cover or have access to. Some examples I can think of are: local and national government agencies with a responsibility for the area, or which are involved with environmental & natural resources management; tourism promotion organizations and companies; non-profit organizations; real estate companies; etc...<br>

I guess those are more like marketing possibilities for a freelancer, but some of those organizations might *possibly* also hire a staff photographer from time-to-time (although I think those days are probably over).</p>

<p>Hi Kevin,<br>

Although I'd be inclined to back up to a storage device or laptop, you can't go too far wrong even if you run out, as cards are readily available to buy in (at least) the main centres here in New Zealand. Reputable photo stores include (but are by no means limited to) <a href="http://progear.co.nz/">Progear</a> in Auckland, <a href="http://www.wps.net.nz/">Wellington Photographic Supplies</a> in Wellington, <a href="http://www.photo.co.nz/">Photo & Video International</a> in Christchurch and <a href="http://www.photowarehouse.co.nz/locations.php">Jonathans Photo Warehouse</a> in Dunedin.<br>

Enjoy your trip!</p>

 

Problem resolved - one day and NZ$200 at the Nikon repair place in Auckland, and it goes again like new! The fault was a broken circuit connection that needed to be re-soldered....

Of course you're right Frank, that's my sloppy description not my poor grasp of lens operation. It stops down to minimum aperture instead of to the correct aperture (e.g. in the A Mode, I set f2.8 on the camera dial, but when I release the shutter the lens stops down to minimum aperture, instead of remaining open).

After further testing it looks like the problem is one the Dick describes, with the lens remaining at minimum

aperture rather than opening to the correct aperture. The processing was fine as the numbers along the sprocket

edges are exposed correctly. Will be interesting to see if an aperture problem is one the Nikon service center

is familiar with for the F100...

 

Thank you all for your helpful replies!

<p>Thanks again for the replies.</p>

 

<p>Dick, that sounds very much like what could be happening - will see if I can confirm that.</p>

 

<p>No exposure compensation was set.</p>

 

<p>I checked with the Lab to see if they'd had any problems that day (no). They made the useful for future

reference (if kind of obvious) point that if there was some issue with processing, it would show up in the frame

numbers along the sprocket edge.</p>

 

<p>So, looks like I'm off to the Service Centre....</p>

<p>Hi, Thanks for your thoughts. </p>

 

<p>Hans - Yes, it had occurred to me it might be the lab, but giving them the benefit of the doubt for now....</p>

 

<p>Eric - I was shooting on a bright clear blue sky day in full sun with an f2.8 lens, so plenty of light.</p>

 

<p>Gerald, light readings from the F100 agree with those from my D200, so I don't think it's the light meter.</p>

 

<p>I guess I'm wondering if there are any known fault(s) likely to develop in an F100 that's 5 or 6 years old, that

could cause this result?</p>

 

<p>Thanks again.</p>

<p>Hi, </p>

 

<p>I've just had 4 rolls of Velvia 100 processed from one shoot, and all are grossly underxposed by, I'd estimate,

four stops or more. Fortunately, I was using the F100 for backup/ auxillary shots to my main camera on the

occasion, a D200, so this is a major disappoinment rather than a total disaster!</p>

 

<p>Has any one had this experience with an F100, and can you suggest what the problem is (and how major/

expensive it might be to fix!)? Here are the details:</p>

 

<p>The film is exposed - but with only with the brightest objects visible, so the film was getting through the camera.

While shooting, I was getting an occasional 'err'; message, but thought it was because I'd accidentally shifted the

lens aperture ring off the locked setting necessary (i.e f22) while working very quickly.</p>

 

<p>All the shots were done on the S setting at around 1/500 of a second (i.e. with the camera setting the aperture).

This was giving me great results on the D200 with the same lighting and ISO setting, so there was plenty of light.

Also, the ISO was set to read the DX code.</p>

 

<p>Since getting the processed film back, I've checked the camera and found that:</p>

 

<UL>

<LI>the aperture mechanism appears to be working correctly (i.e. can see it stops down to expected size when I

shoot)

<LI>at slow shutter speeds at least, the shutter seems to be opening for the expected length of time (very hard to

judge fast shutter speeds with no gear to do so!)

<LI>DX code is read correctly by the camera

<LI>err message appears frequently when shooting on S setting

<LI>err message does not seem to appear when shooting on P setting

</UL>

 

<p>So, any experiences about what the problem might be with this admittedly partial information would be much

appreciated.</p>

 

<p>Thanks</p>

For future reference, <a href="http://www.nikonhire.com/" target="_blank">www.nikonhire.com</a> is a New Zealand

company located in Auckland that hire out a good range of Nikon lenses and a couple of different Nikon camera bodies.

<p>Hi,</p>

 

<p>It is common to use warming cards to take a white balance for underwater video productions. If your still digital camera has a manual white balance function, you can use the same method. 'Warming cards' are bluish coloured, so when a custom white balance is taken, it causes the camera to record warmer colours than if an actual white card was used. The same method can be used out of water to get warmer colour results too.</p>

<p>There's a very informative description of how the method works on this <a href="http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/white_cards_douglas.html" target="_blank">product review page</a>.</p>

 

<p>I'm not certain, but I think there's a problem with the gel filter idea because the filters effectively remove parts of the colour spectrum of the light that passes through them. Underwater, you've already lost some colour because of the filtering effect of the water, so you don't want to lose any more!</p>

<p>Hi Douglas,</p>

 

<p>I'm a great fan of John Shaw's and own some of his books including the Business of Nature Photography. However, much of the advice in that title has become almost completely outdated, not so much due to digital photography, but mainly because of the advent of the internet, which in 1996 essentially didn't exist as we know it. It has revolutionised publication, and is challenging the entire model of editorial photography business.</p>

 

<p>To get more up to date information, I'd recommend trawling Photo.net's

<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/forum?topic_id=2041" target="_blank">Business</a> and <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/forum?topic_id=1701" target="_blank">Digital Darkroom</a> forums for a start.</p>

 

<p>A successful photographer in the internet age is Dan Heller, who as well as contributing on forums here at Photo.net has terrific up to date <a href="http://danheller.com/bizfaq.html" target="_blank">information about photography business</a> on his website.</p>

 

<p>There are numerous other blogs and websites with current information on photography business in general - some of the blogs I like include:</p>

 

<ul>

<li>Rob Haggart's <a href="http://aphotoeditor.com/" target="_blank">A Photo Editor</a></li>

<li>John Harrington's <a href="http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Photo Business News & Forum</a></li>

<li>Stanley Rowin's <a href="http://wikiprophoto.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Pro Photo Business Blog</a></li>

<li>The cryptically titled <a href="http://www.burnsautoparts.com/blog/" target="_blank">Burns Auto Parts Blog</a></li>

<li>'Eat at Joes' - Joseph Pobereskin's <a href="http://cafejoetogo.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blog about photo business</a></li>

<li>and lastly, Dan Heller also has a <a href="http://danheller.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">photography business blog</a> as well as his webiste.</li>

</ul>

<p>The "Big Island" Hawai`i itself is an incredible place, with Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park in particular one of the world's most amazing landscapes. You may be able to see lava pouring into the ocean without the expense of a helicopter flight - it depends on what's happening day to day. The <a href="http://www.nps.gov/havo/" target="_blank">National Park website</a> has <a href="http://www.nps.gov/havo/planyourvisit/lava2.htm" target="_blank">volcano activity updates</a>, as does the USGS <a href="http://volcano.wr.usgs.gov/kilaueastatus.php" target="_blank">Hawai`i Volcano Observatory</a> </p>

<p>Right now, there's some very exciting new activity happening at the summit of Kilauea volcano which is easily visible from park roads and public viewing areas. The summit crater (<a href="http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/cam3/" target="_blank">live image</a>)has very recently become active after many decades of quiet, and there's a chance by the time of your trip that this could be very spectacular indeed! </p>

<p>Other parts of the Big Island have wonderful coastlines, great snorkelling and fascinating historic and archaeological sites. You could check out <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Crhr" target="_blank">this thread</a> for more details of places to visit on the Big Island.</p>

Thanks Bjorn and Kari for those answers. If it works from within a pressurized commercial airliner, it sounds like it must work from within the comparatively flimsy confines of a chopper. I'm located in New Zealand, so I don't think Galileo is going to reach us anytime soon (according to Wikipedia at least). Will continue my research though - there seem to be a couple of cheaper options too.

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>Does anyone have experience using a <a

href="http://customidea.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=126"

target="_blank">Geopic II geotagging unit</a>? Is it any good? Specifically,

I'm interested in using one for aerial photography, so would like to know how

reliable reception is from within a helicopter or light aircraft. Would this

unit pick up GPS signals consistently from within a moving aircraft cabin?</p>

<p>Thanks for any ideas about this.</p>

It's very wide - perhaps good for environmental shots of the couple out somewhere scenic, or church (etc) interiors with the whole crowd, but don't get too close to the bride or you'll give her a big nose!

Another possibility is a program called Rapidweaver that you can get at www.realmacsoftware.com/rapidweaver/index.php for a fraction under US$50. It combines themes designed by the software developer and other designers (some free, others at additional cost) with a relatively simple editing system so you can add and arrange your own content. It has loads of features - e.g. Flash based slideshows, blogging templates - that I'm just getting to know as I create my own site with it.

 

You can literally build simple good-looking site in a few minutes, but the possibilities are endless with various plugins and options allowing you total control down to hand-editing html if you want to.

 

Their site has loads of links to other example sites, so you can get an idea if its for you. Only thing is it's Mac-based - won't work on PC's. (I would be interested to see anyone else's site that they've used Rapidweaver for - links anyone?)

Hi, I've just been kindly given a few rolls of 'original' Velvia 50 that expired

in mid-2000. I used to use the film almost exclusively (in fresh condition),

but can anyone advise what if any color shifts or other changes I could expect

in using Velvia 50 that's 7 years past it's use-by date?

 

I assume these rolls have been stored in sub-optimal conditions at room temp,

and possibly worse. Could it have changed enough to warrant exposure

compensation? Any other creative suggestions? In any case, will be fun to shoot

some film again for a change!

 

Thanks.

Hi Nicky, Steve's right, for MF you'd really need to get something organised in Auckland before heading north.

 

To purchase I like

<a href="http://www.progear.co.nz/"target="_blank">Progear</a>, or you could try <a href="http://www.panavision.co.nz/Main/sales.asp?cat=PHOTOMAM/"target="_blank">Panavision</a> for Mamiya gear.

 

Hire-wise, <a href="http://www.camerarentals.co.nz/"target="_blank">Professional Photographic Rental</a> probably have the widest range of MF gear for rent in Auckland.

 

<a href="http://www.pixels2go.co.nz/"target="_blank">Pixels2go</a>

hire out high-end digital Hasselblad gear.

Adobe demonstrated its online version of Photoshop Express for the first at the

Max 2007 developers conference in Chicago.

 

News item and demo video <a

href="http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6212058.html"target="_blank">here at

CNET</a>.

 

Previous discussion about this on photo.net earlier this year <a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00K9fR"target="_blank">here</a>.

This does seem exceptionally long. I agree - try it with a different card to eliminate the possibility of the card being at fault. Another factor may be any post-processing involved in the shots you're taking e.g . long exposures and noise reduction settings may affect processing time before the images are transferred to the card. There may be other settings that affect this too.

<div></div>

<p>

I photographed mountain gorillas 10 years ago at <a href="http://www.uwa.or.ug/mgahinga.html">Mgahinga Gorilla National Park</a> in south west Uganda. That was pre-digital times, so your advantage will be that you can change ISO with the conditions rather than having to go through a whole roll of film before changing as I did.

 

<p>

 

I agree with Michael that it is crucial to get to know the gear before you go. The hour or so you'll be allowed to go with the gorillas will go very quickly.

 

<p>

 

The weather and the fact the gorillas move around in the forest mean no two treks are alike. The forest that gorillas inhabit can be tremendously variable, so some parts have an open or thin canopy allowing lots of light, while other areas are dense and dim. I think the 70-200 f2.8 will be very useful, but the teleconverter may just use up too much light to be much help.

 

<p>

 

I used a 300mm f4 lens with ISO400 film. That combo worked fine in lighter areas, and I was able to get a couple of nice portraits of a large male. Ultimately I would have preferred to have had the 70-200, as it would allow for quick work between individuals and the group, without risky lens changes in the (probably) wet forest.

 

<p>

 

The walk in can be strenuous, so weight is a consideration. A good comfortable pack that will give a bit of protection against rain and wet forest is recommended.

 

<p>

 

A tripod would be really useful if you were allowed one. An acceptable alternative might be a monopod "walking stick" that you can mount the camera/lens onto.

 

<p>

 

Depending how you're travelling to the site, the weight, bulk and security of your gear need to be considered too. I found taking the moderately bulky and heavy 300mm lens on trucks and buses rather troublesome.

 

<p>

For inspiration, I recommend "Okavango: Africa's Last Eden"

by Frans Lanting (available on Amazon). The absolute must-have general travel guide for Botswana is "The Shell Tourist Travel and Field Guide of Botswana + Botswana road map" by Veronica Roodt & Shell Oil Botswana, 4th edition, 2006. It's full of useful information about the country. You may only be able to obtain it once in South Africa or Botswana. Veronica Roodt has also authored a "Shell Guide to the Trees & Shrubs of the Okavango Delta", which could help expand your photography beyond the wildlife.

Can't answer the question sorry, as I'm facing a similar problem with rubber focus grip on a lens. However, I'm also keen on finding an absolutely safe solution for re-gluing. Presumably the glue needs not to be too strong in case of a need to get into the camera/lens for maintenance in future.

Er, that's iPhoto a little clunky previously...